businessunderstandingmanagement
Business:Understanding management
Understanding the term 'management'
Management GURU Peter F. Drucker says “Management is an art of getting people to do the job you want done”. It is an art because different person may have different approach to manage a task. There is really no definite rule of law to do certain thing with certain method to get result. It is not a “1 plus 1 equals 2” scientific method as in engineering or chemistry.
It involves having people to get a task done. If you do thing all by yourself, it is not management. We may hear a question like, “how do you manage your day?” and an answer such as “I slept the whole day.” Even the word “management” is used here, it is not management.
In order to get a job done, we must first of all have a job. We may want to send a man to the moon, or simply to set up a shop around the street corner. The job is our goal, target, aim or even a dream. It is also our vision. We visualize that a man will set foot on the moon. A convenient store will be opened at the street corner. This is the first management task always done by an individual among a group of person.
Then we must have a plan. A plan is a blueprint or road map charted out to guide us to attain our goal. Plan can be long range strategic or short range tactical plans. A mission statement in relation to the vision should also be sketched up at this stage. A plan should be done by a group of key persons with different expertise. Even a simple task like painting the house should be discussed and made plan with all family members.
Plan, no matter how well, will remain a plan unless we start the execution. This is the doing process of getting the task done. We may have to tell our boy to buy the paint, teach him how to hold the paint brush and start painting together. Or we may need to hire people, putting a person in the job, and start production.
The work may skid off the originated plan, and we need some feed back mechanism to see how fair we are doing with the job. We may see it as a mirror that reflects our performances. It is simply a system of keeping record to compare with the plan. Accounting data, personnel records, and all kinds of information documented are controlling tools.
The final and most difficult management task is the controlling process. This is an art of using the feedback data to make a well balanced decision in guiding all units and activities of the whole operation towards the goal.
In sum, Management is a balancing art of setting up GOAL, drawing up PLAN, EXECUTE task, keeping DATA, and CONTROLLING the operation towards goal.